This study examined how two aspects of an online shopping environment can influence the emotional states of consumers, and how these emotions subsequently affect their intentions to purchase products online. A web-based experiment (using a 3 × 3 between-subjects factorial design) was conducted, where respondents were exposed to a simulated online retail store. A total of 360 responses were collected from web users. The two independent variables examined were level of interactivity and amount of information. Emotion was measured using the two emotional states of pleasure and arousal. Results suggest that a linear relationship exists between the level of interactivity provided by an online store and pleasure. Moreover, pleasure (and in some cases arousal) was found to be a significant predictor of the likelihood that a consumer would purchase products online.Keywords: online shopping; interface design; consumer behaviour; emotion.Reference to this paper should be made as follows: Ballantine, P.W. and He is the Director of the online experimental consumer research project 'Web-Lab' at the University of Canterbury. His research focus is in the area of interactive marketing and e-commerce, consumer research on the web, advertising effectiveness, research methodology, genetically modified foods, and attitude change and formation.